In retrospect, this experiment was flawed. The subject matter and style of delivery was very clearly geared in favor of one of the combatants. When it was initially conceived, it was decided that the experiment would best be delivered through a post that announced itself. By checking traffic statistics on a post titled: “The StumbleUpon Digg Experiment”, there would be equal billing, equal exposure, and most importantly, equal chances through the delivery methods to give both sides a chance.

*** As my first real parody piece, I am moving this up in the blog to see if it gets more comment luv. ***

A little-known but dangerous epidemic is spreading across members of social media websites like Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Newsvine, and Mixx. Like a secret scourge, SM-FPA (social media front page addiction) isn’t making national headines yet, but the effects have been felt in thousands of households across the world.

“Ever since my wife’s submission hit the front page of Reddit last month, we only see her on the way to the bathroom,” said Jake Dixon. His wife Amber, better known as “diggwho”, made the front page of Reddit with a story titled Bush makes more people mad by saying something stupid. Since then, Amber has been submitting 15-25 stories per day and has a submission hit the front page 3-5 times per week. She declined to be interviewed.

Research scientists at the Social Media Institute of Technology (SMIT) in Kolkata, India, say that Mr. Dixon and his family are not alone. They have documented 342 confirmed cases of SM-FPA in 2007 and estimate the actual number in the thousands. [Read more…]

Bloggers and webmasters out there who watch their traffic as closely as we do have been amazed by the “Stumble Effect”. Many know about the sudden burst of traffic that comes from the “Digg Effect” when a submission reaches the front page of Digg (or even better, if it reaches the “Top in All…” section on the frontpage). This is normally a day of joy (or terror if your server bombs) followed by limited tricklings of traffic.

Stumble has a different, more steady infusion of traffic that it can send to a website that gets stumbled, especially if it is hit by multiple top users. The effect is sustained, but more importantly, can be rejuvinated by a thumbs up and/or review by the right person/people.

Digg, on the other hand, has the advantage of having “controlled” traffic. Anyone watching their posts as they’re submitted and rising on Digg can pinpoint if and approximately when their page will go popular. You know when the traffic is coming and you know when it will stop. [Read more…]

When the news wires started buzzing, burning, and smoking about Dennis Kucinich introducing 35 letters of impeachment against President George W. Bush, we started watching the three top social media sites to see who would get the news the quickest to their front page.

As of the time of this post, it was broken 3 hours, 33 minutes ago. We started watching the front pages of Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Newsvine, and Mixx just over 3 hours ago. Here are the results: [Read more…]

The negative comments to this post are already coming. I can feel it. Why? Because I am about to be completely ambiguous and talk theoretically, even though I have knowledge that the things I’m about to discuss are facts.

Ever since Digg, Slashdot, and the other early social news sites took hold of a new market on the internet, there have been clones and competitors popping up left and right. The next “Digg Killer” has emerged and subsequently fallen almost every week for the last couple of years. Newer networks have been proposed, many are getting worked on, and I know a lot about some, little about others. [Read more…]

This won’t be a popular article. It can’t be Dugg because it mentions Mixx and it can’t be Mixxed because it seems to lean towards being critical. In hopes of my true feelings being expressed and understood, let me say that I love Digg and I love Mixx. Both are the best at what they do.

What do they do? Digg serves up the ultimate in news niblets for us to ingest at our leisure. It grants incredible exposure to quality content and helps blogs, large and small, to pop up on someone’s screen who never would have visited otherwise. This doesn’t even touch on the other recipients such as YouTube, Flickr, and traditional news sources online.

Mixx does the same thing, right? Well, sort of. Mixx does offer the same type of quality content. It does grant exposure, but not on the same scale (or in the same ballpark) as Digg. Still, its strength lies in the people and their attitudes. For the most part, Mixx is a much more social and sociable platform that Digg or any of its clones. [Read more…]